Marlborough District property owners will soon receive a 2020 Notice of Rating Valuation in the post with an updated rating value for their property.

The new rating valuations have been prepared for 27,118 properties on behalf of the Marlborough District Council by Quotable Value (QV). They show the total rateable value for the district is now $23,563,000,000 with the land value of those properties now valued at $11,840,000,000.

Rating valuations are usually carried out on all New Zealand properties every three years to help local councils set rates for the following three-year period. They reflect the likely selling price of a property at the effective revaluation date, which was 15 August 2020, and do not include chattels.

On average, the value of residential housing has increased 22.6% since 2017 with the average house value now sitting at $559,000, while the corresponding average land value increased by 36.6% to an average of $262,000.

QV valuer Richard Kolff commented: “The demand for residential housing was buoyant across the region, with most townships in the district seeing increases of between 15-25% overall. Demand for sections has also been strong and as a result of limited supply land values have increased 37% for the district overall.”

“The district has a healthy local economy that is well supported by wine production, agriculture and forestry industries. This has flowed through to the housing market, and combined with very low interest rates and high demand, the market has continued to thrive. Lower value properties have seen the most competition from buyers and has seen the greatest value increases.”

Meanwhile, commercial property values have increased by 5.7%, and property values in the industrial sector have increased by 14.7% since the district’s last rating valuation in 2017. Commercial and industrial land values have also increased by 13.7% and 23.7% respectively.

“Retail and office properties have seen lower increases in value than the residential property market,” said Mr Kolff. “While locals and domestic tourists have been very good at supporting businesses, this has been offset to some degree by online competition for retailers and the start of a post lockdown trend for more people to work from home, resulting in less demand for office space.”

Residential housing value changes since 2017 revaluation levels.

Since 2017, the average capital value of an improved lifestyle property has increased by 16.7% to $864,000, while the corresponding land value for a lifestyle property increased by 18.5% to $399,000.

“Lifestyle properties typically align in value with high-end residential properties and this segment of the market has seen a more modest increase in values than the residential market overall,” Mr Kolff added.

He said the rural market remained strong for vacant land with viticulture development potential and much of this was occurring in Awatere and Wairau Valleys. Values for vineyard properties on the Wairau Plans have been fairly static.

It is helpful to remember the effective rating revaluation date of 15 August 2020 has passed and any changes in the market since then will not be included in the new rating valuations.

This means in many cases a sale price achieved in the market today may be different to the new rating valuation set as at 15 August 2020 and that rating valuations are not designed to be used as market valuations for raising finance with banks or as insurance valuations.

The updated rating valuations are independently audited by the Office of the Valuer General and need to meet rigorous quality standards before the new rating valuations are certified.

New rating values will be posted to property owners after 11 December 2020. If owners do not agree with their rating valuation, they have a right to object through the objection process before 5 February 2021.

For further information, homeowners can go to the Marlborough District Council website at: https://www.marlborough.govt.nz/services/rates/rateable-valuations

The updated website content includes a new Revaluation Smart Map and a rates comparison model, allowing comparison between 2017 and 2020 values.

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